Stanislaw Sosabowski

Stanislaw Sosabowski (8 May 1892-25 September 1967) was a Major-General in the Polish Army during World War II, notably commanding the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade during Operation Market Garden. Sosabowski's brigade suffered 40% losses during the operation, and he was removed from command after he was said to have criticized Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.

Biography
Stanislaw Sosabowski was born in Stanislawow, Eastern Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) on 8 May 1892. He was forced to abandon his studies after his father's death, and he instead became involved with clandestine independence organizations. In 1913, Sosabowski was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, and he was withdrawn from the front after being wounded in 1915. In 1918, he became a staff officer for the Polish Army at the Ministry of War in Warsaw, and he was promoted to Major after the Polish-Soviet War. After graduating from the Higher Military School, he rose in the ranks of the Polish military, and he commanded the prestigious 21st "Children of Warsaw" Infantry Regiment during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939. Sosabowski fought in the Battle of Warsaw, during which his regiment successfully destroyed the German 23rd Infantry Regiment at Praga, and he defended Warsaw until the city surrendered. General Juliusz Rommel awarded Sosabowski the Virtuti Militari for his services.

Polish Army in the West
Sosabowski was interned by the Germans at the prisoner-of-war camp at Zyrardow, but he later escaped, joined the resistance, and fled to France to take command of the Polish 4th Infantry Division. His under-equipped division was withdrawn to the United Kingdom rather than fight in the 1940 Battle of France, and he took command of the new Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in October 1942. In September 1944, his brigade had its baptism of fire during Operation Market Garden, during which poor weather delayed his brigade's arrival in the Netherlands. His men were dropped just 7 kilometers from the bridge at Arnhem, and the ensuing battle saw his brigade lose 40% of its manpower. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery praised Sosabowski and offered awards to ten of his men, but Montgomery later scapegoated him for the failure of the operation. Sosabowski was removed from command for allegedly criticizing Montgomery, and he instead became a commander of rearguard troops. He was demobilized in July 1948, and he evacuated his wife and son from Poland after the communist takeover. He worked at a CAV Electrics factory in London until his death in 1967 at the age of 75, and when his ranks and achievements were read out at his funeral, many of his co-workers were unaware of who he had been during the war.